Three Reasons to Start Hiring Interns
Recruit, Retain and Save
It’s becoming tougher to fill open positions with qualified candidates. That’s why now is a great time for small and niche businesses to consider seeking out intern candidates as a recruiting source. In almost every field, students are scrambling to find open internship positions each spring, summer and fall. In fact, internships are so in-demand that some headhunters charge students thousands of dollars to find unpaid internships for them. That’s because many students feel potential employers won’t even consider them for a job without professional experience on their résumé. Research shows their fears might be right.
According to Michigan State’s Collegiate Employment Research Institute, up to 75% of college students have an internship or some other professional work experience before they graduate. That makes the environment ripe for businesses to offer internships of their own. So what’s in it for your company? Check out these three top reasons to consider hiring interns.
1. Find new team members.
One of the biggest benefits of offering internships is the ability to find job candidates for positions you want to fill or create. Interns, whether still in school or recent graduates, easily transition into full-time work with a company because they are already familiar with the business, its culture and the expectations. They are often ready to hit the ground running, since their internship serves as a training period.
2. Reduce turnover.
Most companies do not offer any promise of permanent placement to their intern candidates. But students know that if they prove themselves valuable to the team, an offer for a full-time job may come. This gives interns a strong incentive to work hard and prove their worth. Also, an internship can serve as an evaluation period for the student to try out the company, which means that if they do accept a job with the company, chances are, they’ll stick around for a long time.
3. Cut costs.
You can choose to pay interns if you’re in a competitive field, but often, students will take unpaid positions. If interns are paid, it’s usually a monthly or term stipend. In addition, internships are not affiliated with the heavy turnover costs of full-time employment – typically between 30-150% of an employee’s yearly wages. Plus, interns don’t typically receive benefits, which add to employment costs associated with full-time employees.
Sounds like a dream solution to your recruiting and retention problems, right? It can be, for a business with great managers. But, before you look for interns, keep in mind that most interns don’t work a 40-hour work week, and not all of them will be looking for full-time employment when they are finished at your company. Intern candidates rarely have extensive work experience, and you must commit time and resources to developing them. Otherwise, you could be in over your head trying to mold a green candidate into a productive member of the team. That’s why you should invest in creating an internship program before adding interns to your staff. Check out next month’s article in e-Xchange to learn how.
Become One Community
Build a Strong Team by Encouraging Friendships
You often hear about the importance of the team in the workplace, but what exactly does this mean? It’s more than simply arranging work groups. The concept of the team includes having your staff experience employee friendships, a sense of community and teamwork-oriented actions. And, it’s more important now than ever before to encourage employee interaction. Just how important? Consider recent research on job satisfaction.
The latest report by the Conference Board showed that workers dislike their jobs more than ever reported in the last 20 years. This trend is especially apparent in younger workers, with less than 39% reporting that they are satisfied with their jobs. Overall, across age, race, income and location, the trend is apparent: most people are not happy at work. And, dissatisfied workers are difficult to retain, motivate and make productive. When it comes to employee job satisfaction, relationships can make all the difference in the world.
In fact, research by the Gallup Organization shows that job satisfaction goes up by 50% for workers who have good friends at work. That’s because relationships are just as important at work as they are in personal life. In fact, they are often more important to workers than money. Gallup has shown that people would prefer to have a best friend at work over a 10% raise. Co-worker friendships encourage employee interaction, offer lighthearted moments and reduce stress. Gallup research also affirms that workers with friends on the job are more innovative, engaged, customer-service oriented and motivated than those without friends at work.
However, as important as friendships, community and teamwork are, managers rarely receive training on how to foster an environment that is friendly toward a workplace community. Instead, people who work in teams often struggle in an environment of competition. They must fight for their own needs instead of the needs of the team. To increase job satisfaction among your team, try implementing these teamwork-friendly tips.
Teamwork-Friendly Tips
- Allow employees to chat for a few minutes each morning or afternoon.
- Join in by making friends with your employees.
- Use icebreakers to start group meetings if your team members don’t know each other well.
- Encourage hobby clubs facilitated by staff members to meet at lunch once a week.
- Let employees know it’s OK to have fun at work and joke around sometimes.
- Ask each team member to share facts about themselves at staff meetings.
- Offer to foot the bill for books, and start a weekly employee book club.
- Create a mentorship program to encourage employees to invest in each others’ successes.
- Stress group accomplishments over individual ones.
When workers begin to become friends with each other, you’ll find that teamwork is the natural result. With increased teamwork, your business will benefit from more engaged, productive and motivated workers. Check out next month’s edition of e-Xchange to learn how to encourage work-life balance.
How to Network Like a Pro
Balance New and Old Techniques
Are you one of those people who never meets a stranger? Perhaps you’re more comfortable knowing only a few people but knowing them well. It doesn’t matter what your personality is, you can learn to network like a pro. Networking is a valuable way to build your client base, add customers, build your brand, achieve growth and take your business to the next level. But it can be difficult to keep up with new networking trends as technology advances and our world becomes more wired. Don’t worry; many tried and true networking methods are still effective, especially since people find increased value in personal interactions. Using a mix of new and old networking techniques can help you build your business network and, in turn, your business. Check out the techniques experts say are the best investment in your networking time.
• Set networking goals. To establish a business network that will benefit you, you must first decide what you want to get out of networking. If it’s simply to say you know people, then it is probably not worth your time. An example of a good goal is networking in order to gain referrals, to build your brand or to increase clients.
• Focus on relationships. With a purpose in mind, you can see how relationships rather than contacts will best boost your business. A desk drawer full of cards of people you’ve merely met won’t do half as much good as 10 relationships you have taken time to build. Relationships aren’t as difficult to build as you might think. You might meet someone at a professional meeting, in your business day or at your child's soccer game. Whenever you meet someone, focus on building a relationship, and you will have a better shot of adding a valuable member to your network.
• Give more than a business card. This doesn’t mean you should toss out your business cards. Rather, you should raise your networking expectations beyond simply passing out cards. Instead of relying on a piece of paper to be remembered by, have a meaningful conversation with a new acquaintance, asking them to tell you what they love about their job or organization. People will remember those who’ve shown a personal interest in them.
• Build relationships online. Networking Web sites are not just for teenagers to share comments and photos. Many free sites such as LinkedIn exist to help business people build a strong network. This is a particularly useful tool for companies seeking to build relationships outside their geographic location, especially those looking to grow into new areas.
• Become an online expert. Online networking is more than just adding a profile to a Web site. Many small business owners are building relationships by launching their own blogs. Successful bloggers network to others in the blogosphere, adding experts and users to their business network. Consider launching a blog on a respected site such as blogger.com or typepad.com to add your voice into the mix in your industry or field. You might be surprised who you meet online and, in turn, how many people begin trying to build a relationship with you.
These networking tips can help you reach out to potential clients and customers, as well as grow your virtual network in an increasingly Web-driven world.
Employment Situation Summary
United States
Non-farm employment rose by 97,000 jobs in February, and the unemployment rate fell to 4.5%.
Major Industry Employment for February 2007
• Construction: - 62,000
• Manufacturing: - 14,000
• Retail Trade: + 7,000
• Professional & Business Services: + 29,000
• Educational & Health Services: + 31,000
• Leisure & Hospitality: + 31,000
• Government: + 39,000
Canada
Employment increased by 14,000 in February, and the unemployment rate fell to 6.1%.
Major Industry Employment for February 2007
• Construction: + 13,000
• Manufacturing: - 35,000
• Trade: - 9,000
• Transportation & Warehousing: + 17,000
• Finance, Insurance, Real Estate & Leasing: + 18,000
• Professional, Scientific & Technical Services: + 2,000
• Business, Building & Support Services: - 5,000
• Educational Services: - 7,000
• Information, Culture & Recreation: + 4,000
•
Accommodation
and Food Services: + 4,000
• Public Administration: + 500
e-Xchange is a publication of Express Services, Inc., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Copyright 2007.